HO Scale - What's On Your Workbench?

RDGbuff56 Nov 17, 2009

  1. Mike VE2TRV

    Mike VE2TRV TrainBoard Member

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    Youngsville & Sugar Grove - that thing looks like Flash Gordon could hop in and take off with it...:wideeyes:

    Nice work!
     
  2. danpik

    danpik TrainBoard Member

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    That is a Funaro kit of a McKeen motorcar trailer. These were towed behind a 55' McKeen powered unit that looked similar. A customer asked for this to be painted in this road name. Yeah, they are kind of futuristic looking.
     
  3. Smithsr

    Smithsr TrainBoard Member

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    WOW! did you model Frank Barnes & Will Colson for 1206? Unstoppable is our weekend-at-dad's movie! and the kids still love it. Your 1206 will be an inspiration for his next project I'm sure!

    Well done!
     
  4. danpik

    danpik TrainBoard Member

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    I could probably do it. I have a two man engine crew set somewhere around here. I suppose I could also dig out a portly preiser figure and pose him on the ground with 777 going past him
     
  5. Flashwave

    Flashwave TrainBoard Member

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    nice mckeen trailer coach, and I like the AWvR engines. Who did the decals?
     
  6. danpik

    danpik TrainBoard Member

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    I did the decals for all of the models shown accept for the Lackawanna trailer
     
  7. JPIII

    JPIII TrainBoard Member

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    Trees.
    Fooling around with diferent materials & processes. Getting close, but close only counts in horse shoes &......

    [​IMG][/IMG]
     
  8. Flashwave

    Flashwave TrainBoard Member

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    On a "home" printer or do you have a little more high tech setup?
     
  9. Smithsr

    Smithsr TrainBoard Member

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    JP can you share some of your tree making techniques with us?!!?
     
  10. JPIII

    JPIII TrainBoard Member

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    Sharing my thrashing around is ....er....uncomfortable. There are some guys on the net that are really good at this, but I ain't one of em'. My techniques are still evolving but a few general trends have solidified.

    Trunks: I want big trees.....old growth forests of the PNW. The tallest I've made is about 2 feet, 175 feet in HO scale and approx 6-7 feet in dia. The largest Douglas Fir ever measured in Washington was 396 feet.The taper of the trunk varies depending on the height.....the taller tree, the shorter the taper when compared to total length.....it's an eyeball thing, but on the 2 footer it's about 1/3rd the total.
    Home Depot has a large selection of 4 foot dowels that seem inexpensive. I use a disc sander attached to my table saw to make the taper. I take it down to about 1/16th dia at the top. Grooving the trunk to simulate bark is done with a small old style hand saw clamped in a vise. I glue a sharpened nail (drill a hole in the trunk) into the bottom of the trunk so's you can stick it into something (I use foam. My layout is foam covered also).

    Stumps: I see too many trees with no stumps??? I've tried several things but have settled on Bondo (body filler). Shape a plastic base to the size & form of your choice, then glue it to the bottom of the trunk (super glue). Mix up some Bondo & slop on the trunk then shape/groove it as it cures, some masking tape is a good plan. Take into consideration that all the places trees grow are not flat. An angle to match your landscape can be sanded on later (disc sander).

    Foliage: I'm really struggling here. I've tried a heap of methods. My latest and seemingly the most fruitful is copper wire for branches, then Static grass sprinkled on (I can't get the conductivity required to generate a static field for my applicator). I start out with 12 or 6 mm grass then go to 2mm. then maybe to T145 fine green flock. I've made some fine messes, but there is a fella from Norway(?) that makes some killer stuff doing this. My last attempt looks OK from 10 feet, his look great from 10 inches....so it can be done. He has a thread over on Railroad Line Forum....maybe here also.
    Anyhow, I drill holes to attach branches.......030 to .054 inch with half of my pin drill chucked up in my battery drill motor.

    To say the least, this stuff is time consuming. I have the patience to do maybe 3 hours at a sitting. Probably 8-12 hours to make a big tree. I only need a couple hundred of em'.:eek:hboy:

    I'll line up a few trees using the various methods and take a pic...you be the judge....taking into account my ineptitude
     
  11. danpik

    danpik TrainBoard Member

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    I print them at home on an Alps printer. PM me off list for more info.
     
  12. JPIII

    JPIII TrainBoard Member

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    Tree pics.
    Foilage from left to right.
    Static grass ....I screwed up on that.Caspia, asian pine(?)
    [​IMG],
     
  13. Mike VE2TRV

    Mike VE2TRV TrainBoard Member

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    I went to a model train flea market in Ottawa today, made for a nice drive on a sunny day, not too cold, and brought back some treasures. Picked up an old Model Power/Lima FP45 identical to one I had 38 years ago... for $2. Lube and a cleanup (that was real dirt, not weathering...), and she's good to go. Also picked up an undecorated GE 70 tonner, a Bachmann Spectrum, and it's going to get decorated for CN #30, like the prototype that's running at Exporail, the railway museum. So that's going to be on my workbench. Lots of freight cars, some of which will need Kadees - more work to keep me busy! Today, I was busy with one other acquisition, an Athearn GP7 nicely painted and detailed for CN. But it didn't run... hmmmm... I must be cursed with GP7s, because the first one I bought was at the same flea market a few years ago... it didn't run either - I replaced the motor and it went fine after that. So I opened this one up, lubed a few things, tried again. Nada. Just sits there humming and pulling about an amp. Grrrrrr... Pulled the motor out, and powered it separately. Spins merrily along, no trouble. Must be some gear issue. Remove the lids underneath the trucks, nothing visible. Turn the motor, watch the wheels. Truck under short hood OK, the one under the long hood - AHA! Gotcha! Popped the cap off the worm gear and pulled it out - and the wheels spin freely. A closer look and one of the square bearings supporting the worm gear was stuck. I removed it - it wasn't seized, lubed and reinserted. Back in she went, cover on, test and YES! Runs like a charm. It had some kind of constant lighting circuit (it's DC) and I changed the rather dubious insulation around it (cellophane and scotch tape) with heat shrink tubing. A nice modeling day.
     
  14. JNXT 7707

    JNXT 7707 TrainBoard Member

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    Sounds like a great day. Your post reads like a microcosm of everything fun about the hobby!
    Watch that Bachmann 70-tonner, I picked up one at a train show CHEAP a year or so ago and both motors (they were truck-mounted) fried within a half hour of running. Apparently an issue with those early editions. I replaced both motors (too stubborn not to) but it was longer cheap! The newer versions of the 70-tonner have a single motor.
     
  15. Mike VE2TRV

    Mike VE2TRV TrainBoard Member

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    I haven't opened it up yet but I think it has only one motor. Looking up underneath, it looks pretty empty in there. I test ran it for about a half hour and it seems to be fine. The other thing I found is that the trucks are kind of wobbly, and the whole unit is pretty light. For something that's supposed to be better than the average Bachmann, they skimped on the frame. I think it's going on a weight gain regimen...
     
  16. JNXT 7707

    JNXT 7707 TrainBoard Member

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    Yeah I noticed the 'wobbly' trucks too - when you pick it up it seems like they have a lot of movement. Inherent in the design I guess.
     
  17. Brian K

    Brian K TrainBoard Member

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    Started work on this Florida & Gulf Coast boxcar today. It started as an undecorated Intermountain 5277 Boxcar Kit. Won't be able to finish it this weekend because the Kadee couplers I need didn't come in, so I'll get as far as I can and then install the final piece whenever they decide to show up.

    The decals are from Highball Graphics and were custom done for a private road (not mine though). Thought it was a cool scheme so here we are... ;)

    [​IMG]

    Brian
     
  18. scopewime

    scopewime TrainBoard Member

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    I did it again...;)

    Just exchanged a Bachmann DCC Decoder (44915) out of a Modern 4-4-0 with a modern sound decoder SL75-4 from CT Elektronik. The change is incredible in all aspects.
    The new decoder is fully programable, the slow motion is really creeepy from step 1 on. The best of all is the sound!!! Jeeaaah.
    I had some trouble with the capacitors (SMD) in the power supply part of the Bachmann loco, but after I soldered them out, the Motor runs silent and smooth.
    I am happy, as this is now my second self wired sound loco and it sums up to three sound locos til now. The third one is still on the workbench...
    So now I rooster a 4-8-2 N&W K2a Tsunami Sound (out of the Box nice and ready), the Bachmann 4-4-0 with CT-Elektronik SL75-4 sound project Mogul preset and finally my 2-8-0 N&W Class W2 equipped with a CT-Elektronik SL51-4 sound decoder. The 2-8-0 I build up from scratch using an old roundhouse consolidation kit as starting point.

    So far so good
    scopewime
     
  19. Brian K

    Brian K TrainBoard Member

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    So, here's where I am with this car, minus couplers which should show up in the mail at any point now. Didn't realize that the Intermountain kits did not include couplers...???

    Went light on the weathering for this one. Really like how the over spray turned out on the roof too.

    [​IMG]

    Brian
     
  20. Colonel

    Colonel Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    H0 Scale - What's On Your Workbench?

    Did you use chalks or airbrush
     

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